Improvement in car-trucks



L. D. HURD. Car-Truck.

No. 205,390. Patented June 25. I878.

I? Z z 95 Y Lu H a LU ATTBBNEYS.

IN.FETERS, PNOTQ-LITNOBRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C- UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE;

LORENZO D. HURD, OF WELLSVILLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-SIXTH HISRIGHT TO JAMES DEVLIN, OF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-TRUCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 205,390, dated June 25,1878; application filed June 5, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORENZO D. HURD, of Wellsville, in the county ofAllegany and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Truckfor Steam and Street Railways; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved truck forsteam'railway and street cars, whereby the friction, resistance, andwear incident to passing around curves shall be reduced to a minimum,and the use of a pivot or fifth-wheel and a bolster avoided. This Ieffect by the construction and arrangement ofparts hereinafterdescribed, and illustrated in accompanying drawing, in which- Figure lismainly an end elevation of a truck, part of the movable hollow axlebeing broken out. Fig. 2 is mainly a side elevation of the same, oneaxle being in section. Fig. 3 is a bottom-plan view, with same parts insection. Fig. 4 is a modification.

The broad main axles A A of the truck are constructed hollow and taperedat each end. One axle, A, is fixed, and the other, A, movablethat is tosay, capable of shifting endwise, without, however, being thereby thrownout of parallelism to the fixed axle A. These two hollow axles areconnected by bars 0, which are jointed or made in two parts, as and fora purpose hereinafter set forth.

The wheels D are fixed on short rotating axles E, journaledin sleeves F,that are pivoted at their outer ends to the ends of the main or hollowtruck axles A A, and have frictionrollers G applied to their inner endsI). Said axles E are of less length than the sleeves F, and have nuts 0screwed on their inner ends, which are accessible through openings insleeves F and coincident openings 6 in the sides of the hollow axles AA. By unscrewing said nuts 0, the wheels D and their axles E may bedetached from the truck, which is important in respect to repair, 850.,when required on account of wear or injury, 81c.

Grudgeons h are formed on the outer ends of the sleeves F, which enterhardened or steel sockets in the top plate of the hollow axles A A, andin the ends of a bar, H, which extends the length of the latter, and issecured by screws to the under side thereof, so that it may be readilydetached when it is required to remove the sleeves F from the hollowaxles. The ends of the bars 0 connecting the latter are forked to adaptthem for attachment to the gudgeons h of the sleeves F, as shown.

The hollow or main axles A A bear upon the extremities of the sleeves F,to wit, upon the pivots h and friction-rollers G. The latter are incontact with the upper plate of the hollow axles, and whenever the truckpasses around a curve the axles are turned on their pivots, and therollers traverse the arcs of circles whose radii are the distancebetween such rollers and the pivots h. The wheels D are made dishing orconcave on the inner side, so that the pivots k may be as nearly aspracticable in a right line drawn between two opposite points located onthe tread or peripheral surface of said wheels, as illustrated in Fig 3.From this construction and arrangement of parts it is obvious thefriction and wear of the parts are reduced to a minimum, and all undueweakness of the pivotal connection between the two axles D E entirelyavoided.

The bars 0 are rigidly connected with the inner ends b of the sleeves Fby means of curved rods or braces I, which pass through slots in thesides of the hollow thick axlesthat is to say, each such brace Iconnects the inner end of a sleeve, F, with that part or section of thecontiguous bar 0 which is attached to the outer end of such sleeve.

If the bars 0 were integral, or made in one piece, the endwise shiftingmovement of the truck-axle A, in passing around curves, would not permitthe rotating axle E or their wheels D on the same side of the truck tobe thrown out of parallelism, and consequently the relation of parts insuch a case would be as shown in the modification exhibited inFig. 4, inwhich the inner ends of each pair of axles E on the same side of thetruck are connected by straight bars I, and the bars (3 are not jointed;but by constructing the bars 6 in two parts, 0' j, which are jointedtogether, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and by extending the part 2' beyondthe joint and securing it by a fixed pivot, is, to the bed of the car,it is converted into alever of the third class, of which the pivot k isthe 'wheelraxles E with relation to the fixed axle A. In other words, byreason of the joint in bars 0, and one of the parts of these having afixed fulcrum. the pivoted axles E of. the shifting truck-axle A arethrown .out of parallelism with the corresponding or opposite axles E atthe same time that thelatter are turned at an angle to the hollow axleA, and hence both sets of pivoted rotating axles are caused to assume aposition in which they are approximately or nearly parallel to radii ofthe curve of the track. The obvious result is that the friction,resistance, and wear incident to the passage around a curve of a carhaving trucks of the usual reduced.

In attaching my improved trucks to acar, the shifting axle A is put infront, or nearest construction are greatly the end of the car.

The car-body rests on cylindrical pedestals L, which are made in twoparts, m m, one of which, m, fits into the other, m, and abuts orpresses against a spring placed therein. The friction between theshifting axle A and the bed of the car is relieved by suitablefrictionrollers, arranged in the arc of a circle, as required.

The pedestals L constitute four bearings or points of support for a car,and hence where the rails are battered, or a short depression otherwiseexists in the tread or wearing-surface of the rails, the wheels willpass over it without half of the weight of the car being thrown ontoit;"whereas, if the truck were connected with the car by a central pivotin the usual way, the wheels on either side of a truck would have tosustain not only half, but evenmore, of the weight of the car in passingover a depression, since the truck would adjust-itself on its pivot.

My improved construction of truck also enables the wheels to pass oversmall obstructions with less danger of being thrown off the rails thanif the truck were swiveled.

What I claim is c 1. The combination, with the fixed and shifting hollowaxles and the rotating axles pivoted thereto, of the jointed and bracedconnecting-bars, one part of which is extended beyond the joint andpivoted to the bed of the car, all arranged substantially as shown anddescribed, for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the sleeves, having rollers applied to their innerends, the rotating axles on which the wheels are fixed, and the hollowaxles AA,to which said sleeves are pivoted, and bars for connecting theaxles, substantially as shown and described.

'3. The combination of the sleeves, frictionrollers, and dished wheels,the pivots of the former being located, as specified, with reference tothe tread of the wheels and the rotating axles, all as shown anddescribed.

4. The combination, with the pivoted sleeves and hollow axles, of thedetachable bottom bar, as shown and described.

The above specification of my invention signed by'me this 1st day ofJune, 1878.

' LORENZO D. HURD.

Witnesses: 3

Autos W. HART, SoLoN O. KEMON.

